Saturday, October 30, 2010

Oh, how I love Halloween! And not for any creepy reasons. I love halloween because I LOVE costumes. I mean, I would totally wear a different costume every day of the year if people wouldn't stop hanging around me. I also love Halloween because I love candy and kids! And so the combination of sharing candy with kids in cute costumes is just pure joy for me. Not to mention, I get to indulge in the candy myself, while wearing a pretty sweet costume. :)

So, I've always dreamt of the day that we would have a child to dress in cute costumes and take trick-or-treating. My parents were VERY religious, and I was not permitted to trick-or-treat, except for one year. The year I was two, I got to dress up as smurfette (which consisted of a plastic mask, and a garbage bag with a smurf scene on it that draped over my body). That is the only year I got to go knock on doors and ask for candy. For some reason, after that, my mom decided Halloween was too evil, candy wasn't good for me, everyone wanted to hurt little kids on Halloween, and I needed to go to church that day every year.

Now, I have nothing against church at all. And, I don't delve into the "evil" aspects of Halloween... just the candy and costumes (okay, and a little home decor). But I always wished I could be trick or treating and dressing up in costumes. I remember a couple years that the church had a costume party for the kids on halloween. I was very happy to go to them, but I dressed up as stupid things like "little miss bible" where I just wore a white dress and carried a bible. But, I still loved getting into some "character." I think that's why I loved theater in high-school... but I digress. Back to Halloween.

So, because I wasn't allowed to do it, I always vowed that when I grew up, I was going to celebrate halloween and give candy to the kids, and by golly I WAS GOING TO DRESS UP! And I do - every year. And I will - every year, until I can't dress myself anymore. And hopefully at that point, Meerkat will dress me up in some cool costume.

Last year, I was an evil queen. The year before that, I was wonder woman. Before that, a masked wrestler (luchador). Luckily, I have a husband who is willing to go along with it and likes to dress up too. And now we have Meerkat! And she is going to wear the BEST costumes I can find, every year... until she tells me herself that she doesn't want to do it anymore.

So this year, because she's too little to eat candy, we just sat on the porch in our costumes and passed out candy to everyone who came by.

Sidenote: when did kids stop saying "trick or treat?" So many of the kids who came up to us just held their bags open and expected us to drop candy in them without saying a word. Of course we did, but it would have been nice to hear a "trick or treat" or "happy halloween." Aaaaaaannnnnnndddddd..... isn't there an age restriction for trick or treat? I mean, I'd happily give candy to an eighty year old, if she showed up dressed in costume... but we had fifteen and sixteen year olds walking onto our porch, in street clothes, with pillow cases, asking for candy. Ummm... get a costume, and maybe you can have some of my sweettarts. Otherwise, you're getting exactly one gumball.

I mean, can you get any cuter than that???!!! If you couldn't guess, she's a shark.

A very chill, ferocious shark.

And, she's also the cutest daggone shark of them all.

Mommy was a last minute witch. I was looking for a costume that went along with the "shark" theme... but didn't have the time or money to go find one. So, today I slammed this outfit together. I think it turned out well, and surprisingly it's the first time I've ever done the witch costume, even though it's a classic.

Daddy was a zombie. A very cute zombie, if I do say so myself.

Meerkat didn't make it through trick-or-treat. She fell asleep about an hour in, and was out cold. She didn't wake up for anything, even our family portrait:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!! We hope yours is/was as fun as ours.

Also, stay tuned. BIG things are happening around here in the next couple days. :)

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Do you see that picture up there? That simple little picture of you with your teddy-mouse, 1996? That was a difficult little picture to get! You've grown so much in the last month, that you're too big for 1996 to support you! And, you can't quite support yourself just yet, so you just topple right over her legs and roll off her face. Don't believe me? Here, look at this:

See what I mean? You're so rolly-polly now! You've got chubby little legs, and cute chubby cheeks. It's so much fun to watch you grow.

This month has been a fun month! You're so social now. You love your old playmat with tiger, monkey, and lion. But now, you've got a new playmat to love - and love it you do. Mommy and Daddy went to your cousin, Greg's, football game and won the 50/50 drawing. It wasn't much, but it was enough to buy you a nice new playmat that lights up and has a moving mobile. You coo and coo at it. It's like you want to tell all the little animals your secrets.

You've started smiling much more than you used to. You greet Mommy and Daddy in the mornings with the biggest grins. I love waking up, walking downstairs to you and daddy, and seeing your big grins.

Just one day before your 13 week birthday, you laughed out loud for the first time. Mommy came downstairs in the morning and picked you up. When you saw my face, you started giggling, and you just kept going. It was so cute! We got a couple little laughs on videotape, but you didn't really want to be on camera and stopped laughing quickly after we brought it out.

So far, you still like to be swaddled when you go to bed. Your bedtime is still 8pm. You're a good sleeper. It's easiest to get you to bed by swaddling you, rocking you, and patting your butt. It's like a tranquilizer. You're usually out cold in ten minutes or less. :)

You've found your hands this month - much more than you did before. You used to put them in your mouth by accident, and then you'd suck your fingers. But now, you intentionally put them in your mouth. And today, when I was taking your picture, you kept putting your hands up in your face and playing with them, so it was difficult to get a good shot!

We're so happy you're a part of our family. These last three months have been some of the best moments of my life. I can't imagine being anything other than your mommy. I feel like that's my purpose in life! I was put on this earth to love you. And boy do I ever! I love your chunky baby toes, and the rings around your thighs. I love your tiny eyebrows and the little dimple in your chin. I love the fuzz on your ears, and I love the way your hair circles on the top of your head.

About Us:

We are two, happily married teachers/writers journaling our journey to build our family through the adoption process.

We are unable to conceive a child due to infertility. Though painful, it has grown us closer together, strengthened our desire to build our family through adoption, and brought us our beautiful little girl. We are journaling the excitement, fears, ins and outs of our adoption process so that others can learn from our experience.